Target audience:
Those practising or wanting to know more about realist evaluation, realist synthesis and other kinds of realist research. - Those commissioning realist work, or using realist findings. - Service providers and policy officers in both government and non-government sectors. - PhD students and supervisors. - Evaluators and researchers in house, independent, and academic. - Program managers and other staff with responsibilities in evaluation. - People designing new policies and programs.

2017 is the twenty-year anniversary of the seminal text, Realistic Evaluation, by Ray Pawson and Nick Tilley. Twenty years on, we want to ask ‘the realist question’ about realist methods themselves. In what ways and in what circumstances have realist methods lived up to their promise of being useful for policy and programs – or not – and why? Is this any different to any other form of evaluation or research?

Are realist methods as useful in practice as they promised to be?

What methods are effective in realist research and evaluation?

What are the latest innovations in methods?

What needs to change for realist methods to live up to their promise?

These are some of the key questions that will be addressed in the fourth international realist conference, From Promise to Practice, to be held in Brisbane, Australia, from 24-26 October 2017.

This fourth conference will continue the tradition of realist conferences building a community of practice, sharing and discussing methods for use in realist approaches. This time, we hope to get a strong emphasis on strengthening the Australasian community of practice, as well as our links with the wider international community of practice. What new methods have been attempted? What has worked well, and not so well, for what, and why? How do Australasian contexts (including Maori, Torres Strait Islander, Australian Aboriginal and other indigenous peoples’ involvement) affect the mechanisms that operate and the outcomes we see here?

This is the first realist methodology conference to be held outside the UK. It provides a great opportunity for people in Australia, New Zealand and our near neighbours to network with each other, and with leading methodologists and practitioners from around the world.